My name is Alex : Ask Me Anything

Who do you think would be the better dinner companion? Nietszche or Heidegger?

It isn't really an issue of "better". Both were brilliant and either would make a fine companion for dinner...

Were the primary criterion to make a choice philosophical discussion (which, I can only suppose it would be), then I would quite likely choose Heidegger. First of all, Heidegger would know the thought of Nietzsche whereas Nietzsche would not have known the thought of Heidegger. Nietzsche was also quite ill and between flashes of cunning insight would be a little flighty ; I would probably not be too sure from one moment to the next how present he would be at the dinner or in our conversation. Heidegger was more poised, more apt to discuss at length, tie up tangents (which I would be as responsible for as he) and would likely continue the conversation with me during a long walk -- perhaps in the cemetery.

I'm in my head too much, with over-thinking nearly everything. Do you have any ideas about how to change that?

Bonjour, Alexandre.

Quelle est votre livre favorite? (Or should that be "préféré"?)

Thank you, ReallyRiver ...

This happens to us all ; it is the nature of the stream of consciousness conditioned to its post-modern bed ; it is the narrating self trying to express the feeling/experiencing self and filling in the mysteries with what makes some sort of sense irrespective of its truth value.

Over-thinking is sometimes a bit of a runaway lorry, but it can be slowed down by recognising a couple of things :

First, what sort of question gets it going. If it is a "How...?" question, then it probably isn't truly a case of over-thinking but merely a long contemplation. That sort of occupation is totally fine ; indeed to be encouraged. On the other hand, if it is a "WHY...?" question -- notably something which subscribes to facticity or others' behaviours -- then all the thinking and over-thinking of a generation won't provide an answer. Not a reliable one anyway... It would suffice to recognise the redundancy of the thoughts and let them be, not taking them very seriously. Passing clouds... even those of a thunder head.

Another thing one can do is Ockham's Razor away the superfluous thought. Anything which is merely speculation (thus unsustainable) -- things we're 'guessing' -- gets cut out, as does anything else we can't know and verify. What we often find is that we're left with very little to feed the thought stream.

How's that ?

Merci, Adam --

Je n'ai pas de livre préféré en tant que tel. J'aime plutôt la lecture érudite : la philosophie existentielle, morale et/ou politique, ainsi que la sociologie, l'ethnologie, l'histoire... mais aussi de la poésie :blush:

Thank you!

I think mostly I get stuck on "how" but then again "how did I get so addicted to sugar" can also be phrased "why am I addicted to sugar" lol.

I guess when I've passed the same thought 3 or 4 times, it's time to pull out the Ockham or just let the thought balloon float away.

Thanks again

I have some questions for you,
How did you come to know Tojo? (Temple of the Jedi order)?
and why did, what was the Reason you came to the temple?
How do you select your apprentices?

Teddy -- your first two questions are easy ; the last one is hard.

I came to know of the TotJO because it is here. I knew about it a couple of years before I decided to engage with it. I came to engage with it when I needed to for my own well-being. There wasn't a Reason as much as a feeling - I felt the need to be something more than the actor of my own life story. I had sen the Campbell interviews when they were first televised. I'd known about Watts for years, and had done some comparative mythology and religion in the course of my studies at university.

The Hero's Journey is never a one-time affair : it is ongoing. I'd been this way before and it was time to set out again. Thus, here I am...

How do I select my apprentices ? I don't ... they select me. I discourage them at first (I have nothing to teach, after all), but if they are persistant and show me that they can have their images that they have of themselves broken every day yet have the tenacity and the perseverance to continue, then I'll acquiesce. If they can give up the notion of self-improvement and/or self-empowerment and not hold onto the hope of ever having any personal power - trusting in the Force to be the un-possessable power which faith in it brings about - then I feel we can work together. If one is willing to question everything one thinks one "knows," if one can choose the difficult and dangerous way over the quick and easy one, then we can keep company.

That is why my apprentices are so amazing ... it has nothing to do with "me". Indeed, they are in many ways better Knights than I.

Does this make sense ?

Some have been saying that we should resurrect the "Ask Me Anything" threads, so here is mine.

I will indeed welcome any question.

Remember though, my responses can be quite honest and still sound a lot like koans. It drives my colleagues crazy sometimes, but no one has strangled me as of yet ....